Pipe, such as plastic, copper, lead pipe and the like, has been used for connecting homes and creating networks for utilities, for instance, water, sewage and natural gas. As pipes become older, they break down, crack, develop scaling on interior surfaces that can clog the pipe, and the like and thereby require replacement.
A technique known as pipe bursting is currently used as a convenient method to replace underground pipe without the need to completely excavate the pipe needing replacement. A pipe breaking device, such as an expander or a mole, is pulled by a cable through the existing pipe while it is still underground. The expander is designed to break, split or burst the pipe, and at the same time push the old pipe into the surrounding soil. The expansion of the old pipe allows the expander to pull a replacement pipe into place.
In one example, pipe splitters are used to burst piping and thereby must navigate tight bends in the pipe. An elongate pipe splitter experiences stress as it attempts to navigate tight bends and sometimes fractures within the pipe. This requires extraction and replacement of the pipe splitter to continue the operation. Replacement of the pipe splitter increases labor. Additionally, the pipe splitter is constructed with hardened steel in some examples, and is expensive. Replacing the pipe splitter thereby increases the cost of splitting small diameter pipes.
In other examples, percussive devices including pneumatic reciprocating hammers are coupled with pipe splitters to more easily split apart piping. Pneumatic hammers drive the pipe splitter through the piping as the pipe splitter is pulled through the existing piping by an attached cable. Where the existing piping includes non-linear portions (bends, curves and the like) the pneumatic hammer may force the pipe splitter to wander by driving the pipe splitter entirely out of the existing pipe and into the surrounding soil. Additionally, some piping and tubing is rolled out from a spool and includes natural non-linear portions including bends. The percussive forces from the pneumatic hammers can drive the pipe splitters out of such tubing and piping. It takes added labor and expense to extract the pipe splitter and pneumatic hammer once they are embedded within the soil.